Our people

Leadership

Paul Mishkin- Chief Executive Officer

Paul founded IXL Learning in 1998 as a way to explore the potential for Web-based technologies
in education. After getting his start
as a software engineer at Oracle, he
built and launched the initial version of the company's first product, Quia Web,
which allowed teachers to collaboratively create and share interactive educational materials.
Today, he guides the company's overall direction and product strategy. He has a
bachelor's degree in computer science from Harvard and
has also studied educational software design at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jennifer Gu- Executive Vice President

Jennifer joined IXL from Oracle, where she was a senior development manager. At IXL, she
oversees day-to-day operations and has been instrumental in developing the company's products
and formulating its sales and marketing strategies.
She has a bachelor's degree in computer science from
the University of California, Berkeley, a master's in
computer science from Stanford, and a joint MBA from UC Berkeley
and Columbia.

John Harrington- Chief Financial Officer

John joined IXL after spending 30 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was a Managing
Partner. In addition to his role at IXL, John holds a variety of board of director positions
at for-profit and non-profit organizations. He holds an MBA from the University of California,
Los Angeles.

Joseph Kent- Vice President, Engineering

Joe joined IXL from Oracle, where he worked as an engineer in the applications division.
He is particularly interested in tools, processes,
infrastructure, and tuning. At IXL, he helped build out the
nascent code tree and server architecture, and he now heads the software development and
technical operations teams. He holds a bachelor's
degree in computer science from UC Berkeley.

Jim Coulon- Vice President, Sales

Jim has over twenty years of experience in education. As a teacher in San Diego, Jim built
and managed one of the first internet-capable computer labs in the area and developed
technology curricula for language learners. In 1996, Jim joined McGraw-Hill and launched the
McGraw-Hill Learning Network, the company's first digital content and learning portal.
Jim assumed company leadership roles in digital product development, digital rights management,
and e-marketing. In 2000, he was selected to head up marketing and sales for McGraw-Hill
Digital Learning, a new educational software division providing online assessment and
prescriptive content. In 2009, Jim joined Achieve3000 as Chief Strategy Officer where
he managed sales and guided new product development.

Karen Bettucchi- Director of Customer Support

Karen joined IXL as a product designer and today leads the company's customer support department.
With a passion for teaching and a strong interest in technology, IXL is a natural fit for her.
She is dedicated to directing a first-rate
team that provides friendly and knowledgeable product
support to all the teachers and learners who use IXL's varied products. She has a
bachelor's
degree in English from Santa Clara University, where she also studied music composition.

Kate Mattison- Director of Products

After getting her start at IXL as a product analyst, Kate today leads IXL's product management
team. She is passionate about providing exceptional user experiences and superb educational
content. She holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago
and a PhD in mathematics from Stanford.

Teams

Product development

Our content developers, product designers, and software engineers
dedicate themselves to making our products the best in the world.
Math PhDs and
experienced teachers and tutors ensure that all practice content is of
the highest quality
and is level-appropriate.
User
experts design delightful, compelling products that become instant classroom essentials.
Talented
engineers apply best practices to create the elegant, modern technology that powers
our websites.

Book development

Our experts in world languages, digital formatting, interactivity,
and web technologies partner with major educational publishers to create interactive online
textbooks and workbooks used in language courses.

Sales & marketing

We love it that many of our users
enthusiastically spread the word about our
products, but we also have sales and marketing analysts
who develop collateral, attend conferences,
answer questions—whatever it takes to make sure
that teachers and learners know what we do and how we can help them.

Technical support

Our support analysts are knowledgeable, accessible,
and patient—a winning combination. Forgotten passwords, custom account settings,
even local network troubleshooting—we'll work with you until
everything's perfect.

Customer success

Our customer success representatives are problem solvers and people pleasers.
From customized training sessions to friendly ongoing support, they
check in from time to time to make sure schools and families are making
the most of their IXL memberships.